Table 1 Descriptive characteristics of the participants by age group and sex
|  | Young adults/adults (18–44 years) | Middle-aged/older adults (45–74 years) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Men (n = 51) | Women (n = 41) | p-value | Men (n = 49) | Women (n = 62) | p-value | |
Age (years) | 34.0 ± 8.1 | 30.1 ± 8.4 | 0.026 | 54.1 ± 7.7 | 56.5 ± 7.5 | 0.098 |
BMI (kg·m− 2) | 42.2 ± 4.2 | 41.6 ± 5.1 | 0.553 | 42.2 ± 4.6 | 43.7 ± 5.9 | 0.198 |
Muscle mass (kg) | 38.0 ± 4.3 | 24.5 ± 2.7 | < 0.001 | 37.1 ± 4.8 | 22.7 ± 2.8 | < 0.001 |
STS time (s) | 16.1 ± 5.5 | 15.0 ± 4.8 | 0.304 | 17.7 ± 5.3 | 22.4 ± 8.6 | 0.001 |
Muscle power (W) | 418 ± 155 | 326 ± 116 | < 0.001 | 361 ± 125 | 222 ± 89 | < 0.001 |
Specific power (W·kg− 1) | 11.0 ± 3.9 | 13.2 ± 5.2 | 0.015 | 9.7 ± 2.9 | 9.7 ± 4.1 | 0.939 |
Muscle strength (kg) | 46.0 ± 10.6 | 26.5 ± 6.6 | < 0.001 | 43.5 ± 8.8 | 22.0 ± 6.6 | < 0.001 |
Specific strength (kg·kg− 1) | 1.21 ± 0.26 | 1.07 ± 0.29 | 0.028 | 1.18 ± 0.22 | 0.96 ± 0.27 | < 0.001 |